Many industries have benefited from the advancements made in technology, and none more so than the gambling industry. This is evident from the fact that in 2016, the global gambling industry was worth $450 billion, and is expected to be worth $647.9 billion by 2027. In the UK, it is no different, with the gambling industry being worth around $19.7 billion in 2018. One of the reasons for this popularity is the fact that gambling games are incredibly fun to play, and many have come and went over the last few centuries, but one game has managed to thrive: bingo.

There are more and more bingo sites popping up each month catering for the UK market, in this article we’re going to look at some of the reasons why. It wasn’t always this way though; there was a point in history where bingo almost disappeared entirely in the UK, and quite shockingly, it may not have even been that popular to begin with. However, in todays day and age, the game is thriving and is enjoyed by millions of players across the globe every day, and there are a few reasons for this rise in popularity.

It’s not that it was

Before beginning to understand why it is so popular now, it’s important to look at why it might not have been the most popular game in the UK to begin with. Depending on who is asked, many people would say that bingo is synonymous with the UK, and the reason for that is because within a few years of it being introduced to the country, hundreds of bingo halls opened up around the country.

One would assume that is a sign of popularity, but there are two factors to consider; the first is that during the time of popularity, the television hadn’t been introduced yet and secondly, there wasn’t a lot of competition. In other words, there really wasn’t much to do and instead of sitting at home, it allowed people to socialize and keep themselves busy. Once the television was introduced to the population and other casino games started becoming popular, many bingo halls were closed down due to not being used.

The venue was changed and it was reinvented

Once the majority of bingo halls were closed down, a few online casinos started introducing bingo, which was met with some success. This eventually led to sites being launched that catered specifically to people who wanted to play bingo. In the beginning, the client base was mostly people from the elderly community who wanted something to do with their time, revisit a once popular game that was adored, and those who were unable to travel to casinos or find bingo halls. Then the game itself was reinvented by using different themes for the tickets, which now include genres of movies and music, celebrities, video games, sports, and characters from cartoons to list only a few.

This change, away from just using numbers, made the game appealing and relatable to a younger audience and suddenly bingo was a game that everyone could play and enjoy. All of this combined meant that people did not need to travel to play, they could play at any time without waiting for halls to open, it was easily accessible and now relatable to a much larger audience.

In addition to this, everyone has heard of bingo before, so it wasn’t like people were trying a brand-new game; they were just enjoying a better version of it.

It’s easy to learn

Perhaps one of the biggest reasons for why bingo was popular when it first arrived in the UK, was that it was very easy to learn. Players would buy a ticket that contained numbers, those numbers were then called out randomly, dabbed off the ticket, and the player who dabbed all of their numbers first won.

Since moving online, the game has become even easier to play. The process is now automated, which means that players no longer need to dab off the numbers themselves, it’s done for them. In addition to this, players can now buy up to 100 tickets at a time and no longer need to buy them individually.

Another big change that makes playing bingo easier, is that even if a person is unable to make it to a game for which they’ve bought a ticket, they will still receive their prizes when logging into the site again. This makes it extremely appealing to those who enjoy passive gambling.